Tuesday, December 4, 2007

cool brake reset project

I just worked on Mississippi Queen’s hydraulic brakes for the first time. It was totally fun. I guess it’s a pretty simple exercise for anyone that’s done it before, but as this was my first time working on disc or hydraulic, it was fun to “surf the learning curve” for a little while (did I just make that up - don’t forget where you read that awesome new phrase first – kinda reminds me of Gleaming the Cube).

All I did was remove and replace the brake pads, but made the mistake of squeezing the brake lever in the disassembled state and so when I tried to replace the wheel the brakes were too tight and I couldn’t figure it out. To the internet! Shimano let me know the error of my ways, mentioning something about needing to reset the pistons with a Travel Spacer. “Oh fuck, I think I threw that away,” I exclaimed. But no, it turns out I didn’t. Lucky thing I have the pack rat gene. So back to the shed I went with aforementioned travel spacer (orange, as described on the Shimano site) and just as darkness was putting an end to the job, I got it all together and the wheel spins freely and the brake works (I hope). So I guess I should go riding tomorrow.

2 comments:

Couldn’t you have just reinstalled the wheel and used the rotor to reset the piston/pad spacing?

Well, maybe, I don’t know. That seems like it should work, but Shimano states that if you don’t have the travel spacer you can use a rotor that is not attached to a hub. I don’t know why it would make a difference whether or not it is attached to a hub.